I Promise
by Black-Diamonds
Summary: Harry comes home victorious from the war. But even true love and courage can't defeat some things, and Harry is about to find that the one he loves is dying. H/D SLASH, A short sad ficlet


a/n: For this particular ficlet I have 3 warnings: mild use of bad language, SLASH, and the fact that it contains angst. I made this one darn sad ^_^ Oh yeah, btw, don't own them...JK does - God bless that woman!  
  
  
[_I Promise_]  
  
"Harry..." Agate gray eyes glowing with a strange happy anticipation. Silken strands of hair plastered across his damp forehead. He tried to sit up, but only just managed to prop himself up clumsily against the thick pillows on the bed.  
"Draco..." Harry ran to the side of the bed. "Draco the war's over. It's over! We've won..."  
"I knew you would Harry...I knew you could do it." Draco lifted the corners of his baby-pink lips into a small smile.  
"No! It's your victory too, Drac. Without you helping our side as a spy and telling us where to find him....we never could have done it."  
"It's nothing, come on, don't get all sappy, you sentimental little shmuck."  
Draco joked, giving a sly grin. In his smirk, Harry could see a ghost of the past. His gem-green eyes stared at Draco. A ghost...a shadow; pale, creamy skin, against midnight black sheets and pillows.  
Draco lifted a white handkerchief to his mouth and coughed violently. As he pulled it away, he tried to hide the drops of ruby-red that had stained the otherwise spotless white linen. But Harry's keen eyes immediately saw what Draco didn't want him to see. He saw past the strained smile of joy on Draco's face, assuring him that everything was going to be all right, and past the elegantly slender fingers now tucking the cloth away.  
Before Draco could say anything, Harry snatched the material from his hand.  
"Why didn't you tell me...huh? Why didn't anyone tell me?"  
"What's wrong, Harry?" An unknown emotion flickered in the pale bed-ridden man's face.  
"Don't bull shit me Draco - what is this, huh? And when was I supposed to find out? At the funeral?"  
"Look...I'm perfectly fine, Harry. I'm fine, okay? It's just a little blood, no need to have a mental over it."  
"No need?? Excuse me, but NO FUCKING NEED!? I come home from the war, in which you were injured three weeks ago, and I find out that you're lying helpless in bed riddled with some bizarre fever. Okay, a fever I can deal with, I thought. I mean, I've already cheated death a couple of million times, and beaten up big ugly Pseudo-Mystical Dark-Lords...why can't I save my own from one little fever? And then you start coughing up BLOOD, and you think I'm just going to just sit here!? For once, I just want to hear the truth, okay? Just the truth." Harry's voice was shaking with emotion, as was the hand that held the cloth.  
"I don't think you'll be able to handle it." Draco whispered quietly.  
Harry leaned over Draco, and brushed some hair away from his face.  
"Try me."  
Draco turned away suddenly, his breath coming up in short, jagged bursts. He was crying. When he finally turned back, his face was streaked with fresh silvery trails of tears. What he said next confirmed Harry's deepest darkest fears.  
"I'm dying, Harry. I'm dying, and there's nothing that anyone can do about it." Draco placed his hand over Harry's, trying to break the dreaded news as gently as he could.  
"It's only a matter of time. Now, come on, shhh..." Draco wiped away the tears that flooded out of Harry's eyes.  
"Draco - I..." Harry choked on his words, and instead resorted to simply folding his blonde angel in his arms.  
"Harry I would have told you, I promise. It's just that I didn't want you worrying. You were always so brave, Harry. And I was just a broken boy...nobody wanted me enough to care."  
"I did...I do!"  
"I know Harry, and that's why I didn't want you worried. I know that you would have been by my side. But they needed you too, Harry Potter. The world needs you, I know that."  
Harry cried into Draco's shoulder. Where it should have been Harry comforting Draco, it was now Draco who lightly stroked Harry's back in a comforting gesture.  
"Promise me something Harry." Draco whispered quietly.  
"What?" Harry breathed. "Anything..."  
"Promise me that after I'm gone, you won't forget me." Draco requested, his voice breaking under the sheer emotion that coursed through him. "Promise me that you will never forget how much I love you, and that no matter what happens, I will always watch over you and you will always have my love."  
"I promise. How could I ever forget you?" Harry embraced Draco. "And you have to promise me something too. Promise me that you'll wait for me up there. Promise me that you'll wait until that day we can be together again."  
"I promise."  
"Let me hold you, Draco." Harry suddenly knew in that way that only soulmates can know that it Draco's time was coming. Perhaps Draco himself didn't even know. Perhaps he did. It didn't matter. Harry brought Draco gently into his lap, holding and tenderly rocking him like a small child. He was getting weaker. Harry held him, as Draco buried his face in the crook of Harry's neck, kissing Harry's pulse point. Draco's fists clenched in effort as he pulled away slowly.  
"I love you Harry." Draco smiled at him, and for a moment, Harry just realised how incredibly Draco looked like a small, innocent child. And then Harry didn't feel afraid for Draco any more. Death was not the end. It would be a kind of peace to every kind of evil Draco had lived through. Draco would finally find the eternal calm after the bloodshed, tears and carnage he had faced. He would go to sleep and dream.  
"I love you too Draco...now, and always." Harry kissed Draco's lips gently, for what would be the final time. As Harry gently laid Draco on to the bed, his eyes closed and his face relaxed into a smile. Not a sneer nor a smirk, but a smile of innocence and purity. He was oblivious to every corruption and adulteration and vice in the world now.  
And in a way, Harry was relieved for him. For where Draco was now, nothing could harm him. Harry was still holding Draco as he looked down at him and smiled, a bittersweet smile that contained a life time's worth of memories and an eternity worth of love.  
"I love you too." 


End file.
